Curry-comb



(No Model.)

F. W- HOEFER.

CURRY 00MB. vNo. 410,971. Patented Sept. 10, 1889.

l w/tmaooeo 544mm N. PETERS. PhMaLilhngqfllur. Washington. ma

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK W. I-IOEFER, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS.

CURRY-COMB.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 410,971, dated September 10, 1889.

Application filed May 7, 1889. $erial No. 309,877. (No model.)

To all whom it 12mg concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. HOEFER, a resident of Freeport, in the county of Stephenson and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Curry-Combs; and'I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan of the curry-comb, looking upon the working-face. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 00 m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a handle that may replace the fiat strip of Figs. 1 and 2.

In the drawings, A A are wave-like ribs, preferably of malleable iron, V-shaped in cross-section and serrated upon their thinner edges to form the working-face of the comb. They are of any desired number, placed parallel at a short distance from each other, and held in position by small coils B of springwire, whose successive spirals are passed through apertures O in the ends of each rib. The apertures are somewhat larger than the wires that pass through them, and are enlarged and rounded eyelet-like upon each surface of the rib in order that they may move freely within small limits upon the coils.

The handle D is of the usual form, and may be'of leather, but is preferablya metal strap. Whatever the material, its ends are perfo rated at E for the passage of the coils of the springs B. The several ribs and the handle are adjusted in position and the coils are inserted, advancing by simple rotation through the several apertures in succession, securing the ribs in proper relative position and the handle in place, as shown. The coils are then prevented from withdrawing by bending each end of each down upon the adjacent rib end and the comb is ready for use. If desired, a flexible back may be added, of course; but when this is not used the expense of manufacture is very slight, the various parts requiring no fitting nor hand-work and being among the cheapest-forms of metal.

IVhile made entirely of metal, the comb is nevertheless flexible along lines parallel to the handle, and owing to the looseness of the wires in the apertures through which they pass the endribs may make with each other an angle of about thirty degrees, the face becoming a warped surface, and hence the comb may follow every bending possible to the hand that holds it, and may thus conform to the surface over which it passes. Its lateral edges are cushioned by the coils, and it is evident that it may be washed or left in water without injury, and that in other respects it is nearly indestructible.

The handle may be formed, as shown in Fig. 3, of a wire bent back and forth in its own plane, its narrow end loopI being passed either through the several spirals of the side coils or through apertures in the end of the central rib.

hat I claim is' 1. The combinatiolnwith the parallel toothed ribs, of the transverse spring-coils secured to the ribs, covering their ends and cushioning the lateral margins of the comb, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination ,with the parallel toothed ribs and the spring-coils passed, respectively, through apertures in the opposite ends of the ribs, of the hand-loop of spring-wire engaging said coils and bending back and forth in substantially the same plane.

3. The combination, with a series of parallel toothed ribs lying in the same plane, and a handle-loop substantially parallel to said ribs, of two transverse coiled springs having their spirals passed through apertures in the corresponding ends of the handle-loop and the ribs, whereby all the parts are united, forming a curry-comb flexible along lines parallel to the handle-loop, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK W. HOEFER.

\Vitnesses:

J AMES I-l. STEARNs, HALLIE C. ELLIs. 

